The Girl in Hemingway's Studio Page 15

  During this transition phase, Christopher would stop by Marcus and Alexis’s home for dinner and to pick up his daughter. Late one afternoon as they were sitting at the kitchen bar, while Ashley was watching television, Christopher leaned over and kissed Alexis on the cheek, “Thank you so much for doing this for Ashley and for me. Ashley was so devastated after being dumped by her mother, I wasn’t sure if she was going to recover. But these last few days, I’ve seen such a change in my little angel, granted she still cries herself to sleep at night, but each morning she is so excited knowing she will be seeing her favorite aunt.”

  “Christopher, I’ve enjoyed these last few days as much as Ashley. She is such a lovely, smart, beautiful child. In fact I wanted to discuss something with you. The last couple of years, I had mentioned to Charlotte about taking Ashley to the Polar Express Train Ride in Williams. Ashley loves the book, and I know she would treasure the experience. But every year Charlotte had an excuse why she couldn’t go, but Ashley is almost seven and next year may be too late. What do you think about doing it this year?”

  “That’s a great idea, Alexis. Let’s figure out a date, and the three of us can take Ashley.”

  The next few weeks were hectic as Alexis was busy teaching her classes while Marcus and Eric met with various investment people who might be interested in purchasing or financing their Missouri mine. Marcus had given Alexis the bag of the minerals that he and Eric had taken from the mine. Alexis contacted a fellow professor, a geology expert, who was happy to analyze the minerals for her. The professor discovered most of the minerals were just the common worthless variety, but found a fairly decent amount of zeolites and mica and an unusually elevated amount of high-grade barite. Barite is a nonmetallic mineral that can be used commercially in the medical fields and as a pigment in paints and weighted fill for paper. It is also used as an x-ray shield to block the emissions of x-rays and gamma rays. If there was an abundance of that particular mineral, the mine might actually be worth something after all. One group of investors seemed to be excited about the discovery of the high-grade barite and planned a trip to St. Louis with Marcus and Eric to check out their mine.

  This time Marcus and Eric flew in one of the financier’s private jets; accommodations were arranged at St. Louis’s Four Seasons hotel, and dinner meetings were held in upscale restaurants. Eric surmised the expenses of this trip would be a write-off for tax purposes for the group. The two brothers were impressed as they each surveyed their separate upscale Studio Suites with a private patio and a breathtaking view of the riverfront. The next morning they and their potential investors were chauffeured to the mine in a rented luxury SUV.

  Driving out to the mine, the group made a stop at the Pea Ridge Mine. Eric and Marcus noticed there was still very little activity and this was on a Friday of a non-holiday workweek. The investors discussed the lack of activity when all the mineral reports promised such great wealth from that mine. The geologist accompanying the group explained some of the problems getting Pea Ridge up and going. It had to do with the discovery that some of the valuable rare earth minerals were intermingled with a radioactive element called thorium that would require special processing and cleanup. The investors shook their heads in unison as they drove on to Marcus and Eric’s mine. Eric opened up the small house and offered the visitors refreshments, which they declined, as they were anxious to just walk around the property. Carl Rodgers, the geologist, eagerly walked into the mine and started probing around with his tools, collecting samples. He collected samples from holes he had drilled in the ground around the mine, from the tiny stream that flowed on the property and around Uncle Fred’s house. After three or four hours, the group headed back to St. Louis. Sam Murdock, the leader of the investment group, once again brought up the possibility of purchasing the mine, but soon the conversation turned to perhaps having the brothers “invest” or “share” the risk of exploring the old mine. Marcus and Eric looked at each other as reality hit them. Were these investors suggesting they would have to come up with some of the investment money, perhaps a large amount of cash, to go forward? They all agreed to meet at the hotel’s restaurant to discuss it further after showering and changing.

  Back in their fabulous hotel, Eric followed Marcus into his room.

  “Eric, I’m not sure I like how this conversation is heading,” Marcus said as he turned around to look at his brother. “The way these rich ole guys are talking, they want us to take a bigger share of the risk of exploration, but they will gladly share the profits if the mine contains huge deposits of barite. But if the mine doesn’t have enough barite to make it worthwhile to go forward, then we are both out of a bundle of money neither one of us can afford.”

  Eric shook his head and asked, “What should we do?”

  “I think I would be interested in selling the mine as I’m not sure I want to throw money, excuse the pun, down a mine shaft.” answered Marcus.

  “I think we should talk seriously to them at dinner tonight and see what kind of money we are talking about and what exactly the shared responsibility would mean.”

  Later that evening after a delicious steak dinner and several drinks, Eric and Marcus were troubled when the conversation turned to the cost of exploring and analyzing the mine would be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. The first expense would be an extensive evaluation and mineral analysis of the mine, a comprehensive survey to see if there is an abundance of barite minerals, where they are located and their depth, a possible airborne gravity system study which would provide a clear analysis of nearby possible barite veins or seam deposits. Eric and Marcus had already emptied both of their savings accounts to hire an experienced mining attorney who knew which applications, permits, and documentations needed to be filed, which fees needed to be paid, and which procedures were necessary to get the mineral rights transferred into their names. When the investors threw out figures of $100,000 to $200,000 that would be the two brothers’ responsibility, they both lost their appetite.

  When Marcus brought the conversation back to having the investors purchase the mine, Sam looked at the brothers, slowly sipped his drink, and smiled,

  “Eric, Marcus, we are capitalists. Our goal is to use our money to make more money, so we try to only invest in projects that will give us a good shot to do just that. It sometimes takes a lot of money just to do the homework to make sure there are valuable minerals in the mine before we start purchasing equipment and hiring manpower to excavate. If we agreed to purchase the mine before we do the mineral analysis and a comprehensive survey, we could only offer you around $10,000 for the property.”

  “$10,000 for the property and the mine?” asked Eric as if he had heard wrong.

  “Yes, that’s generous for a plot of land so far away from St. Louis. There is no way to tell if the mine has valuable minerals or not without a comprehensive survey. As is, the mine could be worth millions or nothing.”

  “If the survey shows the mine contains valuable minerals,” asked Eric. “Wouldn’t you have to purchase the mine from us before you can extract the minerals? And at that point, I would say the mine would be worth a hell of lot more than $10,000.”

  “Yes,” nodded Sam. “We could offer you, boys, more money for the mine, but it wouldn’t make you rich. However, if you, boys, are willing to put up the ownership of your mine and risk some of your own money to help cover the expense for the extensive surveys, we would make you silent partners and you could share in the profits. Actually, that’s how my brother and I got to be so damn rich. A friend of our father offered us an investment opportunity, and we took it. My brother and I spent one whole summer herding cattle and saving our earnings to invest. We never worked so hard in our lives, but it paid off.” Sam had a faraway look in his eyes as he remembered his younger days. Then he smiled, “However, I guess it could have gone the other way and that investment wouldn’t have paid off and we both could have ended up dirt poor. That’s why sometimes investing is called just another form o
f gambling,” Sam laughed as he picked up his glass and toasted his partners.

  Marcus felt sick. “What you are saying is that if Eric and I agree to share the cost of the extensive survey, that would give us the right to share in the profits? How much would we each have to invest? And what kind of a percentage would be our profits?”

  The geologist who had been quiet the whole time spoke up, “For the kind of extensive survey we would need to discover if the mine contains barite and if there are significant veins of the mineral located on your property, it would probably cost approximately $300,000 to $400,000 plus for the survey. We are talking about a high-resolution gradiometer survey. This is very expensive, but it gives a clearer picture of what the mine contains and how much profit we could pull from it. Then we need to determine how difficult it would be to get to the minerals. Some deposits are not economical to mine, either the barite is scattered and dissipated—too laborious to gather or the seams or veins contains more rocks than minerals. Of course, first I will take the samples I pulled from the mine and analyze them to determine if it is even worth going forward with the next step.”

  Sam smiled, “If you boys would give us $100,000 plus ownership of your mine for your share and if there is significant amounts of barite, we wouldn’t ask for any more money. Our investment group would pay for excavation, equipment, and manpower, and we would cut you in for 15-20% of the profits—which could be millions. What do you think?”

  “I think we need to seriously consider everything before giving you an answer and discuss it with our wives,” answered Marcus.

  “Don’t worry; we won’t need an answer until I get some idea if going forward is even worthwhile,” smiled Carl Rodgers.

  Eric and Marcus were very quiet on the flight home. As Marcus walked in his home, he noticed Alexis sitting on the floor in the living room surrounded by papers covered in red markings.

  “Hello, darling, what are you doing?”

  Surprised, Alexis jumped up and ran to give her husband a kiss and a hug, “I didn’t hear you come in. How was your trip and what did the investors say about the mine?”

  “Let’s discuss that over dinner. What are you doing?” Marcus asked again as he motioned to all the papers on the floor.

  “Well, I just heard back from my ‘possible’ literary agent. He likes the idea of my manuscript, but not much else. I thought I would only have to correct a few grammar mistakes and do some minor editing, not a complete rewrite.”

  “So, you aren’t going to have a best-seller in a couple of months?”

  “Nope, not that soon,” Alexis said as she walked into the bedroom to change her clothes. “Why? Were you hoping royalties from this book would be pouring into our bank account?”

  “Yep,” Marcus said under his breath.

  Alexis and Marcus decided to stop at their favorite Italian restaurant, VinciTorio’s, to have a glass of wine and share a pizza. They choose a table in the back of the restaurant where they could quietly discuss the events of the past few days. Marcus explained the extent of the trip and told Alexis the options available—either “give away” the mine or invest money they didn’t have.

  “What about Dad’s cousin, Walter? He’s the one who gave you the names of those investors and he must trust them. What about offering him a share of the profits and see if you can borrow the money from him?”

  “Have you ever met Walter?”

  “Yeah, a couple of times when I was a kid. Why?”

  “Walter is a very strange man, nothing at all like your dad. First of all he looks like a carbon copy of Truman Capote except with lots of black hair. His long-time girlfriend, Missy, looks like she was hired from central casting for Saturday Night Live—tall, thin, lots of very bleached, blond hair, and an obvious fan of Botox. Both are enjoying Walter’s inherited wealth, and they don’t seem to want to spend it on anything that doesn’t benefit them right now. Walter already told us, he’s not interested in investing. That’s why he hooked us up with Sam Murdock. What about asking your dad for a….”

  “Absolutely not,” interrupted Alexis. “After the Charlotte fiasco, Judith treats my father like a failure. For some reason she blames my dad for not having more control over his daughter. Every time I go over there, I feel so uncomfortable. Absolutely not.”

  Alexis took a sip of her wine and then laughed, “Now that I visualize my memory of Walter, I realize your description of him is right on. When I first met him, I didn’t even know who Truman Capote was, but yes, he does look a little bit like him.”

  Once back home, Alexis walked into the home office to straighten out her manuscript and put it in a safe place. Sitting at her desk, she glanced up at the picture Pablo had painted of her walking across the lawn of the Hemingway house. She had received letters every so often from Pablo and she was happy to learn, the art museum job turned out to be a perfect fit for him. Every day he was painting in the studio and meeting visitors who proclaimed to love his artwork. He had also started to sell some of his paintings.

  When UPS had delivered the Hemmingway house painting, she immediately took it in to a local gallery to have it framed and proudly hung it above her computer. Smiling she thought of that girl in the picture, so happy, carefree, and so inspired that she had the opportunity to finish her book in Hemingway’s studio. Of course, that was before finding out about her sister running away with Aaron to Cuba, Marcus and Eric’s misguided adventures in trying to find their fortune in their uncle’s mine, and her sweet, adorable niece being abandoned by her sister. All this took place in just a little over two months.

  Alexis walked into the bedroom as Marcus was coming out of the shower, drying his hair with a towel. His cell phone was ringing. Alexis glanced at the screen.

  “It’s Eric,” she announced.

  “I’ll take it,” Marcus picked up the phone and walked out of the room wrapped in a towel around his waist.

  “Eric, what’s up?”

  “Did you talk to Alexis about asking her dad for some money?”

  “I’m afraid that’s a ‘no-go.’ We’re going to have to think of a Plan B.”

  “Well, let’s think of one fast. Have you checked your credit card charges since you’ve been home?”

  “My credit card? I didn’t charge anything on our trip.”

  “Oh yeah, remember when we had to give our cards to the hotel clerk when we checked in? Usually the hotel holds them in case we eat the expensive snacks in the room, order room service, or make long distance phone calls, right? Well, it was my understanding that Sam Murdock and the good ole boys were paying for our rooms. That turned out to be wrong. The hotel charged me over $1,200 for the two-night stay.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding,” Marcus said as he rushed over to open up his laptop to check his credit card’s charges. “Oh my God, you are right. I have over $1,200 on my card too. I wish they had told us this; we could have shared a room, or even stayed at a cheaper hotel. Maybe it’s a mistake, and Sam meant for our rooms to be added to his bill. I’ll give him a call….”

  “Don’t bother. I already called him. He said that having us pay for own rooms gave us independence and a feeling of being partners. Do you have any other ideas?”

  “How about setting up another meeting with Walter? Even though he said he wasn’t interested in investing, maybe we can get him to change his mind. Also, tomorrow I’ll call Gary Freeman, the geologist we talked to in St. Louis; he mentioned a couple of local boys who might be interested in buying our mine. Owning this stupid mine is costing us a fortune.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  The Loan Connection

  The next morning Alexis called Kyle and asked him to meet her for lunch. After Marcus got off the phone with his brother, he tossed and turned all night. At breakfast, he wouldn’t talk to her, and Alexis got a sickening feeling in her stomach. She decided to discuss those issues with her dear trusted friend Kyle. He was the one stable rock in her life, besides her father.

 
Kyle was waiting for Alexis at a picnic table outside the Chuckbox on University Drive, a favorite hangout for students. Not Alexis’s typical place for lunch, but today a big, juicy hamburger might just make her feel better along with an order of fried zucchini. Alexis sat down with a sigh, and Kyle pushed a plate of hot food in front of her. As she reached for her wallet to repay Kyle for lunch, he shook his head, “My treat. Tell me what’s going on.”

  Alexis fought back the tears as she gave him a synopsis of the past few weeks.

  “Wow,” exclaimed Kyle. “Your plate is full of problems, I’m so sorry. How can I help?”

  “Oh, Kyle,” Alexis said through a half smile. “Just being here, not judging, and buying me the best hamburger in Arizona is so helpful. My biggest worry is that Marcus is going to be egged on by his brother to invest money in this stupid mine. Money we don’t have, and I don’t want to go in debt to feed his ego.”

  “Alexis, have you thought of asking your dad for….”

  “No, Kyle,” interrupted Alexis. “I will not ask my dad for any help. He has enough problems keeping Judith happy.”

  Kyle’s heart broke as he looked over at his very unhappy dear friend.

  Marcus called Cousin Walter during his first break at work. Mondays are always busy days in Accounting, and Marcus had a hard time keeping his mind on the work he needed to complete. He left a message for Walter, and his call was returned about an hour later. Walter said he would arrange a brunch meeting with Marcus and his brother on Saturday at the Fairmont Princess in Scottsdale. Walter would reserve a table on the patio so they could enjoy the breathtaking views of the McDowell Mountains.

  Why couldn’t we just eat at Denny’s? Marcus thought as he punched in Eric’s number. I can just see Alexis’s face when she opens our Visa bill this month.

  On Saturday morning, Marcus honked his horn in front of Eric and Betsy’s home. As he waited for his brother, he noted that their lawn needed mowing and the shrubs desperately required trimming. Not at all as immaculate as Eric usually kept his yard. His brother always expected everything around him to be flawless. Eric shuffled out to the car, got in, and collapsed in the passenger seat. Marcus looked over at his brother and was shocked by his scruffy appearance. He was unshaved and needed a haircut, Eric the man who cared more about his appearance than most women.